The Hunter's employment market remains in a COVID-induced "twilight zone" as the labour force shrinks at the same time as job vacancies rise.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest labour force survey shows the number of Hunter people in work fell by 3800 to 315,300 in the first two weeks of the month compared with September.
The labour force, which includes people either in work or looking for jobs, is 24,000 smaller than it was two years ago.
The Hunter's workforce participation rate is a low 61 per cent, 3.7 points under the national average.
Yet advertised job vacancies rose to almost record levels last month in the region.
The Hunter started to emerge from lockdown on Monday, October 11, a period captured partially by the ABS survey.
Hunter Business chief executive Bob Hawes said lockdowns, border closures, government pandemic relief payments, vaccine mandates and workers' fear of the virus continued to play havoc with the employment market.
The flight from the labour force kept the region's unemployment rate at 4.9 per cent, but Mr Hawes said an extra 6000 to 7000 people were trying to find work in the Hunter through the government's jobactive employment service compared with before the pandemic.
"It's disappointing to see we've still got this twilight zone, if you like. One pool stays about the same, which is the jobs, but the pool of people to do them has definitely shrunk," he said.
The Newcastle Herald reported this week that Port Stephens hospitality businesses were desperate to find staff as the busy holiday season approached.
Shoal Bay Country Club alone is looking to fill 100 positions and is offering existing staff $1000 bonuses if they recruit a new employee.
The National Skills Commission's Internet Vacancy Index for October shows the Hunter's labour shortages extend well beyond the hospitality industry.
The index rose to a three-month moving average of 5307 online job advertisements in the Hunter last month, the second highest figure on record. The index peaked at 5323 in May before dropping below 5000 in August and September. It was 3666 in October 2019.
The vacancy index for professionals was at a record 1403, up 500 on pre-pandemic levels.
Job advertisements for managers (517), sales workers (425) and machinery operators and drivers (325) were also at record highs.
Advertisements for clerical and administration workers were up from 492 in October 2019 to 759 last month. Similarly, vacancies in community and personal services have grown from 378 to 538 in the past two years.
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